The present invention relates to consumer shopping in general, and more particularly to an electronic advertisement and coupon issuance and redemption system.
Retailers and manufacturers often sponsor incentive programs for persuading consumers to buy their products. These incentives include discount coupons distributed to consumers whereby a consumer may redeem the coupon when purchasing an associated item. Such coupons are usually distributed in paper forms.
The problems associated with paper coupons today are that the retailer and manufacturers who advertise cannot assure that consumers who use paper coupons have actually read the product advertisements which accompany the coupons. The advertisers do not have a way of knowing who is viewing their advertisements and cannot dynamically adjust the advertisement to fit the viewer""s tastes and interests.
In addition, many cases of fraud related to paper coupons are occurring today. For example, paper coupons are easily counterfeited. Some consumers commit fraud by redeeming coupons for merchandise they have not purchased. Some retailers also commit fraud by redeeming coupons for merchandise which consumers have not purchased.
Manufacturers must rely on the cashiers and computer systems at retail establishments to assure that consumers who redeem coupons have actually bought the targeted product and that the coupons redeemed were not expired at the time of redemption. Retailers often rely on their cashiers to enforce coupon redemption rules. Other retailers rely on computerized systems to compare coupon bar codes to the consumer""s purchases.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,964 Donahue describes paper coupons with bar codes printed on them, and thus does not solve the deficiencies of paper coupons described above. U.S. Pat. No. 5,710,866 by Christensen et al. describes electronically generated coupons but requires a database of customers and spent coupons which is costly to maintain. It also requires online connection to the database at redemption time to determine if the coupon is valid.
The present invention is an online coupon issuing and redemption system. The issuing system of the present invention includes an issuing station. The issuing station is generally comprised of a computer located usually at a manufacturer""s site. The issuing station typically generates advertisements and coupons electronically. The issuing system also includes a consumer station, usually a computer and a smart card reader/writer generally located at the consumer site. The smart card reader/writer may be linked to the consumer computer either directly or via a LAN or other network connections.
The issuing station and consumer station are linked via a communications network. When a consumer makes requests via the consumer station for coupons, the issuing station transmits the advertisement and coupons it generated to the consumer station. The issuing station also has a capability of digitally signing the coupons. Digital signatures insure the authenticity of the coupons as well as that of the issuer and the issuing station. Also included in the transmission is a program having a capability to run on the consumer station. The program is responsible for making sure that the consumer absorbs the entire advertisement and transferring the coupons to a smart card via the smart card reader/writer linked to the consumer station.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to assure the advertisers that a consumer actually perceives the advertisement for a product before receiving discount coupons.
The system of the present invention also includes a redemption system. The redemption system generally comprises a redemption station, typically a computer, and a smart card reader/writer linked to the redemption computer. The redemption system is typically located at a purchasing site. When a consumer is ready to make a purchase, the consumer inserts the smart card having electronic coupons stored in it into the smart card reader/writer linked to the redemption station. The redemption system reads the coupons via the smart card reader/writer and matches the purchased items with coupons. The matched coupons are extracted from the smart card, so that they may not be used again. At the same time, the redemption system deletes any expired coupons stored in the smart card.
The redemption system also may include a tamper-protected secure coprocessor. In order to protect a manufacturer from fraudulent merchants and customers, operations which assess the validity of coupons, operations which update, collect, store, or delete coupons may take place inside a tamper-protected hardware boundary. The hardware boundary is part of typical tamper-protected secure coprocessors and smart cards.
Accordingly, it is yet another object of this invention to provide a tamper-protected access to the coupons stored in the smart cards.
Alternatively, the system of the present invention may include a database of coupons stored in the issuing station. The database may include a list of coupons issued or already spent. When a consumer is ready to redeem the coupons, the redemption station links to the database and validates the coupons stored in the consumer""s smart card by comparing the smart card coupons with a list of coupons in the database. Only the valid coupons matching the list in the database may be actually redeemed.
The system of the present invention also includes a communications link between a redemption station and an issuing station. Such a link is established when a merchant wants reimbursements from the manufacturer for the coupons the merchant redeemed to the consumers. Typically the redemption computer sends electronic coupons which have been digitally signed to the issuing computer. The issuing computer validates the electronic signatures on the coupon. If the signatures are valid, the manufacturer reimburses the merchants for the valid coupons. Accordingly, it is a further object of the present invention to provide a mechanism for the manufacturer to electronically reimburse the merchants.